A person thought to have been looking for warmth in downtown alley is dead after being crushed by a reversing garbage truck Tuesday morning.
Toronto Police Sgt. Brett Moore calls the scene in the narrow passage near University Ave and Adelaide St W "horrific". Police were unable to say if the victim was a man or a woman.
Siobhan Morris/NEWSTALK 1010
But Daniel Gareau, operator of a neighbouring highrise recognized the body as that of homeless person who has been sleeping on a grate in the alley off and on for about two weeks.
"I have tried to wake up the homeless person and explain to them that they can't stay there because when drivers are backing up they can't see at that type of an angle," Gareau told NEWSTALK 1010.
Gareau doesn't think the person, who he believes was woman, understood English. He says they were always dressed in dark-coloured clothing and slept under dark-coloured blankets on a grate above an underground steam valve.
A rattled Gareau says he feels sad for the person killed and for the rest of the city's homeless.
"There's shelters around for these people to go to but some of them just don't feel comfortable in going to them. Or maybe in this case, the person didn't understand English so they didn't realize there was shelters around, I'm not sure."
Gareau is also concerned about the driver of the GFL garbage truck who Sgt. Moore describes as being in shock.
Police are looking for surveillance video from neighbouring businesses and dashcam from passing vehicles to help with their investigation. It is not clear if the GFL truck had a functioning back-up camera onboard. NEWSTALK 1010 has reached out to the company for comment.